Treatments for pancreatic cancer

If you have pancreatic cancer, your healthcare team will create a treatment plan just for you. It will be based on your health and specific information about the cancer. When deciding which treatments to offer for pancreatic cancer, your healthcare team will consider the size and location of the tumour and your overall health.

The stage of the cancer, including if the tumour is resectable, borderline resectable or unresectable (locally advanced or metastatic), determines which treatments can be offered.

Resectable pancreatic tumours can be completely removed with surgery. Stage 1 or 2 tumours are often resectable. They are treated with surgery to remove part, or all, of the pancreas. Chemotherapy may be given after surgery (called adjuvant chemotherapy). If cancer cells are found in the tissue removed along with the tumour during surgery (called positive surgical margins), radiation therapy or chemoradiation may be given.

Borderline resectable pancreatic tumours are treated in a clinical trial setting, if possible. They may be treated before surgery with chemotherapy and chemoradiation (called neoadjuvant therapy).

Locally advanced pancreatic tumours (stage 3) are treated with chemotherapy, radiation therapy or chemoradiation. In some cases, surgery will be used to relieve symptoms of advanced cancer (called palliative surgery), but it isn’t used to try to remove the entire tumour.

Metastatic pancreatic tumours (stage 4) are treated with chemotherapy, with or without targeted therapy. Surgery, radiation therapy or both may be offered to relieve symptoms and control pain (called palliative therapy).

You may be offered one or more of the following treatments for pancreatic cancer.


Depending on the stage, size and location of the tumour, you may have one of the following types of surgery.



Distal pancreatectomy is used to remove tumours in the body or tail of the pancreas. It removes the tail of the pancreas, or the tail and part of the body of the pancreas, and nearby lymph nodes. The spleen is only removed if the tumour has grown into the spleen or blood vessels supplying the spleen. Distal pancreatectomy is not commonly used because cancer that starts in the body or tail of the pancreas has often spread by the time it is diagnosed.


Palliative surgery is used to relieve symptoms of advanced cancer. The types of surgery can include stent placement and surgical bypass. These procedures can help relieve a blockage in the common bile duct or duodenum.


Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer cells. Some chemotherapy drugs are given on their own. But more often, several chemotherapy drugs are given together.

Chemotherapy drugs commonly used to treat pancreatic cancer include:

  • gemcitabine (Gemzar)
  • 5-fluorouracil (Adrucil, 5-FU)
  • nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane)
  • FOLFIRINOX - folinic acid (leucovorin), irinotecan (Camptosar), oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) and 5-fluorouracil

Radiation therapy




Chemoradiation combines chemotherapy with radiation therapy. Both are given in the same time period. Some types of chemotherapy make radiation therapy more effective.

If you can’t have or don’t want cancer treatment



Follow-up care

Follow-up after treatment is an important part of cancer care. You will need to have regular follow-up visits, especially in the first 2 to 3 years after treatment has finished. These visits allow your healthcare team to monitor your progress and recovery from treatment.

Clinical trials


Questions to ask about treatment
